Chapter 298 Martin feels something is wrong

Martin pursed his lips with a headache: "How much do you want to buy?"

"Isn't this a spring famine?" Horn chuckled. "We are allies, so if I gain, you will also gain. So I want to spend 2 gold pounds to buy 120 million gallons of grain."

"120 million gallons?!" Martin's eyes widened. "Is that too much?"

"Is it a lot? Kasha County is a big grain county. 120 million gallons is about 5000 tons. It's not a lot, right?"

"The monastery doesn't have any surplus food..." Martin took out a booklet from his arms, flipped through two pages and then said.

“Everyone knows that Kasha County was not hit hard by the disaster, so there is plenty of food, but the annual output is more or less affected.

Moreover, after the flood, food prices soared everywhere. The farmers in Kasha County made a lot of money, and they did not have much food left.

It’s okay around the monastery, but for those further away, we are not the actual lords of Kasha County, so we can’t force them…”

As Martin explained, Horn gradually gained a general understanding of Kasha County.

The situation in Kasha County can basically be summarized as: local Kush knights + immigrant armed farmers + local citizens + monastery monks against the Thousand Valley Church + immigrant knights.

The church forced the foreign immigrant armed farmers to form an alliance with the local Kush Knights.

So the Juano Alliance is actually a loose political alliance with a local nature.

They exist because of their enemies, not because of common interests.

When Juanno was still there, he was able to force the alliance to move forward with his extraordinary prestige.

But after Juanno was burned to death, the peasants and the urban middle class were really angry and completely lost their faith in the church.

However, the nobles and some monks still clung to the illusion that they could reconcile with the church, maintain superficial submission, and then act like local kings behind closed doors.

"So there are many voices within the monastery. Some advocate bloodless reforms, some want to manage themselves, and some want to sit back and watch both sides suffer and then take over..."

The more Martin spoke, the more depressed he looked. In the end, he even said with a sigh, "If only Dean Juanno was still here."

"Is that so... Then how much can you give at most?"

"At most? Ten thousand pounds for 1 or 50 gallons of grain, perhaps we can try to get one?"

Horn smacked his lips and did not respond immediately. Instead, he calculated silently in his mind.

Horn needs more than just food.

If he bought grain and distributed it to the farmers for free as relief food, although the money would be spent, the manpower would be wasted.

Recruiting some young and strong farmers into the army is certainly a strategy, but he cannot let everyone serve in the army.

Excluding the portion for the war monks, Horn planned to use the rest of the food for two purposes.

The first is to recruit laborers for infrastructure construction, and these laborers will be used to dredge the river in Daze Township.

According to calculations by the only hydraulic engineer in Joan of Arc, by making a small hole, the jet of water could be used to flush away some of the silt.

In this way, the water level of Nanze Lake will drop, and Daze Township will have more large tracts of wet land.

It may be a little difficult to grow other crops on this land, but there is no problem in growing flax, a crop that likes moisture and acid.

With the help of the Holy Wheel Machine, we will soon be able to produce the textile industry, which is the easiest category to start in the light industry.

The second is to develop rural sideline workshops and original industrialization and train sufficient labor.

Horn had no foreign capital, no industrial transfer, and no colonies for him to exploit.

He only has productivity, but transforming productivity into economy is either a bloody or a long process.

Relying on the start-up capital accumulated by fighting the church, primitive accumulation was completed through long-term commodity exchange between urban and rural areas internally and through dumping in the imperial market externally.

Either way, Horn will need a skilled workforce.

Money is money only when it circulates. After the end of the work-for-relief program, at least the villagers will have a certain consumption capacity, thus boosting domestic demand.

This kind of economy is a prosperous and positive economy.

Without exporting to external markets and without exchanging industrial products for food, not only will it be impossible to accumulate military rations, but famine is expected to break out in May.

Horn asked Martin to solve this problem.

"Now we have revolted, Rapid City has revolted, and Duke Hermashi has also revolted."

After calming down, Horn did not continue the previous food issue, but instead talked about the current situation:

“This started with Dean Juanno, and the rest of the people more or less flew Juanno’s flag.

You can't stay out of this alone. The church will definitely take action against you. I really want to ask you what you plan to do." Martin's previous anxiety slowly disappeared and turned into another form of anxiety: "I don't know either. There are quarrels every day in the monastery, and the teacher has a soft personality. I can't make a decision for a long time."

There was silence for a long time in the dusty room, and Horn patted Martin on the back of his hand:

"If you ask me, since you don't dare to attack the church and cannot directly revolt, you should focus on defense and counterattack and wait for reinforcements."

"Yes, I thought so too. At least they would not be completely powerless to resist." Martin closed his eyes in pain. "But Kasha is a plain county with a few hills at most. There is no strategic location to defend."

Horn was curious: "Isn't Kasha County the base camp of the former Kush Knights? Where is the castle?"

"The Thousand Valley Church promulgated the One County One Castle Decree, demolishing most of the castles in Kasha County under the pretext of demolishing old castles and building new ones."

Horn asked, "Can't it be repaired?"

"Yes, but it will take a long time and we won't have enough time." Martin said with a wry smile.

"Why is it too late? Is there a problem with the materials? You don't seem to be short of stones and manpower?" Horn frowned.

Martin shook his head slowly: "Of course there is no shortage of stones and manpower, what is lacking is volcanic ash or mortar.

This kind of stone adhesive is what we lack most.

Since the last emperor granted the church a special license for volcanic ash, the current volcanic ash trade has been basically monopolized by the church."

Horn shrugged helplessly and said, "Actually I really want to help you, but unfortunately I don't have volcanic ash."

"Yes, you..." Martin suddenly opened his eyes, "No, don't you have mortar?"

See? I went there myself.

If Horn hadn't been well-educated, the upturned corners of his mouth would have almost been suppressed.

Without waiting for Horn's reply, Martin muttered to himself, "No, it's still not possible. You have enough mortar, but not enough time. It will take at least two or three months for the mortar to dry."

"Why? We only took a month to do it."

"That's because you have a lot of, uh..." Martin considered his words, "a lot of natural priests, and we are lucky if we can secretly shelter two or three of them.

There are too many alchemists here, and the villagers and monks down there will probably be some complaints."

Horn smiled. He stood up and poured Martin a glass of water. Then he sat down again and asked, "How is the exchange study between the Holy Fathers and Juanno going?"

Martin opened his mouth slightly. He couldn't keep up with Horn's train of thought. Why did they suddenly talk about this?

"The message came via carrier pigeon last night. The dean agreed and even wrote a letter of introduction." Although Martin didn't understand what Horn meant, he still answered.

Horn pushed a stack of documents on the table to Martin: "This is the list of monks going to the monastery to study this time."

Martin began to flip through the pages without knowing why, but after turning two pages he froze and then flipped through the pages faster and faster.

"These, these people are natural priests..."

"I belong to the school of natural theology, so of course I have to send natural priests out, and what we are exchanging must be natural theology."

Martin's eyes immediately lit up, because the monks actually did not oppose alchemists in their hearts.

Otherwise they wouldn't even know how to use the mortar, let alone secretly shelter a few alchemists.

They are anti-wizards just for the sake of being anti-wizards. It is a means to maintain their own orthodoxy, not an end in itself.

As for the rural people, in addition to the church’s long-standing propaganda.

The most important thing is that the people of Black Snake Bay have always been emotionally unstable and often cause trouble.

Now that the image of the Thousand Valley Church has collapsed, Horn defeated the Imperial Order Company and took the opportunity to fill Juanno's vacancy.

With his reputation as a guarantee, maybe it is possible.

"Those knights and monks definitely want to repair the castle, but they can't buy mortar even if they have money." Horn leaned forward, tapping the list with his finger, "We can provide mortar, and we can also let the natural priests help them quickly reinforce the castle.

Do you think that ten thousand pounds plus ten thousand pounds' worth of textiles, mortar, and peat will buy a million gallons of grain?"

The same smile that appeared on Horn's face at the beginning appeared on his face.

Walking out of the study, Martin frowned and looked back. He always felt that something was wrong.

Oh, who cares!
Martin was born optimistic, and he couldn't see any loopholes in this plan.

The thick file in the teacher's hand provided a solution to a troublesome problem.

No matter how you look at it, it should be considered a meritorious service, right? It all depends on whether the teacher is willing to accept it.

(End of this chapter)